


the bite you never could have before

by magdalyna



Series: Suddenly A Seat At The Table [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Prologue, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 22:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12220233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magdalyna/pseuds/magdalyna
Summary: Simon Cowell is not a good person. Even when he's being nice, he's really, really not.Always read over what you have to sign on the dotted line.





	the bite you never could have before

It happens, sometimes. 

A person is born, and when they come of age, their skin is still blank of a name where their soulmate’s should be. Wrist, shoulder, lower back, elbow, thigh. The place doesn’t particularly matter, despite those old wives’ tales. 

The point is, it happens. 

In this story, it happens five times. Five boys. 

***

Simon Cowell is not a good person, and he only pretends at it when he has to. He sits at a conference table in a gilded, glass tower with suited men flanking him to the windows on either side. Jones to his right, with a face that could sour milk. The other, whose name Simon Cowell has never bothered to remember, to his left. 

Across from him are five lads in street clothes whose futures he is deciding on, no matter the papers the suits ordered interns to place before the lads before anyone walked in. 

Only the eldest, the one who will need to tone down that obvious limp wrist, has eyes sharp enough to decipher the clause Jones suggested be put in. The contracts were the usual ones Simon hands out to those unfortunate enough to win his favor but this is a special case. 

Eyes narrowed, the Yorkie down-market twinky one’s voice is a clear bell ring. “What’s this bit about ‘facilitating group dynamics’ then?” Louis Tomlinson is pointing with the cap end of his pen at the relevant clause on his copy of the contract. 

Simon cuts his eyes to Jones. Jones has that smile as if he’s scented blood in the water. 

“Given the special circumstances, this is the standard clause the studio adds to contracts to make sure that the commitments are fulfilled in a timely, cohesive manner.” Jones explains with the piety of a nurse in the infectious disease ward, ready with a new, untested treatment. Lucky for these lads, they've done this before. 

The lads react to that: stunned faces, looks to each other, slightly widen mouths. 

“You mean, ‘cause we’re all blanks?” the cherubic one, Styles, finally manages. Payne can’t hide his wince at this. Horan just sets his jaw with an audible clack. 

Simon can’t help but smile, now. “It’s the other opportunity of a lifetime, lads.”

“You can’t force a bond.” Malik shakes his head, his hands griping his armchairs so firmly his knuckles have paled. The insecure one, Simon remembers. 

Jones tuts at that. “No, no, we’re offering a substitute to what nature has denied from you. We simply … mimic, shall we say, a biological process. The five of you will have the emotional, psychological and mental ties of true soulmate pairs between yourselves for the full contract period of five years, or five albums. There’s the standard buyout clause of course, if one of you leaves before that period is over. Nothing more, nothing less.” He sits back, and from the way he adjusts his tie, Simon knows he’s pleased with himself. 

It’s a long three minutes before the lads across from him all sign their names, with a variety of muted shock and resignation on their faces. 

Really, this is minor stumbling block on their road to being a shining success story of his. 

They’re being given something, at least. For true power, he would have given far more than what the faded white slash-shaped scar over the inside of his ankle used to be. 

Simon Cowell is not a good person, and he only pretends at it when he has to.

He leaves the conference room first. He has an appointment at his tanning salon and then dinner at home with a rent boy who used to be an underwear model. 

These lads will make him millions.


End file.
